Abstract

The gerund, or better the articular infinitive or verbal noun, is the name given to the combination of an article followed by an infinitive, e.g. tò drân, lit. ‘the (action of) doing’. The use of the article makes the gerund’s role as substantive more obvious than the bare infinitive does. The articular infinitive appears after Homer and reaches its most developed state in the 5th c. The peak of its popularity comes at the beginning of the Koiné, ca 400 BCE, but a decline follows in the Roman period, and it eventually disappears.